Would You Like Fries With That? -- Amazon Sells Groceries
- by Michael Stillman
In an email, Amazon informs us they are now selling groceries.
By Michael Stillman
Amazon.com, the world's best-known bookselling site, recently expanded its offerings with the announcement that they would now be selling groceries online. In a letter from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos published on their site, he noted that during the test phase, people have been "ordering everything from Kashi cereal to Jiffy Pop popcorn." Maybe, but a click to their grocery store brought up a page featuring Special K cereal and Orville Redenbacher's popcorn. That hardly scratches the surface. There are at least six brands of tuna, five more of anchovies, ten of mustard, six of pepper, fourteen of salt (who needs fourteen brands of salt?), eight potato chips, nine of diapers (did you know there is a diaper brand called "Tushies?"), five of macaroni and cheese, and four of batteries. In all, Amazon tells us they have 14,000 nonperishable food and household items.
Jeff tells us, "My kids are thrilled to have Annie's Mac & Cheese delivered right to our door." I wouldn't be. That stuff must have a million calories and enough fat to reconstitute a whale. "As if it weren't already a staple of their diet," he notes, "yesterday they asked if they could have some for breakfast." I think my daughter has asked that too. Another reason not to buy groceries from Amazon.
I'm old enough to remember when Amazon was a bookselling site. Seems like ages ago. I guess there isn't anything they don't sell today. Their home page is a cacophony of changing items, as it tries to remember who I am, and what I want right now, versus ten seconds from now, when it will give me a different set of choices. Were it not for its reputation, I doubt I would have any idea that this is a bookselling site. Obviously this works for Amazon, and their rollout of groceries after a trial run means that they will probably sell lots of them as well. They clearly are not book people, but they are astute businessmen. I may prefer the old Amazon, but I certainly can understand why they would go where the dollars lead them. After all, how many booksellers would refuse to carry mac and cheese if their customers wanted to buy it from them?
So I got to Amazon's home page after reading Jeff Bezos' letter, and do you know what they have waiting for me? Seriously. They must remember that my interest is in books, and my daughter mac and cheese, because there waiting for me is a copy of Macaroni And Cheese, a book by Marlena Spieler. I can now eat and read about mac and cheese at the same time. But I personally cannot stand the stuff, so why would I want to do either?
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
